One of the ways in which parental depression may influence the development of the child is through the kinds of affective involvement that characterize the relationships among various members of the family. These patterns of affective involvement within and across family subsystems (i.e. the spouse, parent- child, and sibling subsystems) are significant contributors to the child's development not only through their influence on the pervasive emotional climate of the environment within which the child functions but also through their influence on the child's developing understanding of self in relationships. Within the family systems literature, this aspect of family member relationships (i.e. the direction and degree of affective responsiveness) has been referred to as 'alliances"; and it has been found that the pattern and nature of alliances are quite different in distressed and dysfunctional as compared to effectively functioning families. The aim of this study is to examine the nature and pattern of family alliances--the availability and strength of interfamily communication channels and the affective quality of these communications--in families with and without parental depression.